This word has been coming to me in recent months. Perspective is important and our life can be greatly affected by what PERSPECTIVE we choose to see things, believe things and what perspective we choose to live our daily life from.

PERSPECTIVE: a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view. (outlook, view, viewpoint, point of view, standpoint, position, stand, stance, angle, slant, attitude, frame of mind, frame of reference, approach, way of looking, interpretation).

We always have a choice of perspective – “Is the glass half full or half empty” or “What you focus on grows” – we get to choose. These sayings are ones we may have all heard but serious thought may need to be given the the truth that is in them.

The choice to look beyond ourselves and how things might be affecting us can lead us out of despair. But sometimes we need each other to help us. Sometimes the perspective I am seeing is too much to overcome on my own, because truly we cannot always “see the forest for all of the trees”.  There are days we just need to have a friend to help us to see things in a different light. We are not created to live life on our own.

Perspective needs to go beyond what can be seen today. My faith in God and His plan has brought me an amazing gift to help me see things from an ETERNAL perspective. This perspective helps shift my mind outside of our cultures need for instant results, instant gratification and helps me to realize that there is more to this life than just my time on this earth and that there is ETERNITY out ahead of me. Forever is ahead and how I live today affects my forever and those around me.

I believe we as a culture have lost this amazing gift, the gift to see beyond ourselves and our current life, our own personal struggles and disappointments and be able to truly see that how I live today actually matters, for me and for my children, my grandchildren and those beyond. How I live and build my life today will affect them.

My hope and desire is to build on the foundation that was built for me so that those who come after me can build on that. I long for the ceiling in my life to become the floor that they can step out on. Keeping an eternal perspective helps me to be able to live in hope and brings peace in the midst of current circumstances that might be happening.

I am willing to not “get it all” for myself so that my kids and my grandchildren have a better chance, a better life, a stronger faith than mine, a deeper awareness of the God who loves them and that they would live the same way. They would live to build something that outlasts their life so that the next generation sees the faith and the promise of a better future.

Living on a daily basis with a short term perspective or outlook can steal so much from us. It can be short sighted and it keeps us focused on the temporary circumstances we are facing. Living in this way can cause us to become only self focused and self centered where self preservation becomes a way of life.

The REAL work is in keeping our perspective in the right place and focused on the good, the right and the promise of a better tomorrow. The future IS bright and has so much potential. I heard someone say recently that God is not obligated to fulfill our potential – that is on us. So each day starts with a fresh opportunity to see things differently, live differently, think differently, speak differently and build for Eternity, for tomorrow, for others!

For me one of the most important things that helps bring perspective is the Bible. There are so many verses and testimonies that help provide perspective to the things I am facing. I cannot tell you the number of times, that in the midst of a particularly hard situation, I have opened my bible and read something that helped me to overcome my current perspective and brought hope and promise for my situation. It did not immediately change the circumstances themselves but it helped me to see them in a different light and helped me to have strength to weather the circumstances and know that I could overcome as long as I did not give up.

Hebrews 11 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible, it is one I go to often for PERSPECTIVE. So many of my heroes are mentioned in that chapter and so many of them were committed to the promise and lived and died having not received it in its fullness. They were willing to do that because they knew it went beyond them. They knew that this life we live was not just about them. They knew that they were building a foundation for future generations to live on. This inspires me.

• “Being confident of this that He who has begun a good work in you is faithful to complete it”
• “Do not look at the troubles we can see now; rather fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen for the things we can see are temporary and will not last very long but the things we cannot see will last forever”
• “Do not grow weary in doing good for at the right time you will reap a harvest IF we do not give up”
• “When troubles come consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow…”
• “Keeping our eyes on Jesus…because of the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, disregarding the shame…think of the hostility He endured, then you will not become weary and give up.”
• “One final thing – fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, right, pure, lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and praiseworthy… then the peace of God will be with you.”Looking to the future with HOPE!